JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. — The State Liners came up short Saturday night in a 8-4 loss to the River Turtles.
The game opened with a dominant start on the mound from Bristol's Miles Smith, who notched two strikeouts and a quick three-up, three-down inning. Smith continued to be in control of the game early, mixing 91mph sinkers and four-seamers to retire batters in order across the first three innings.
Offensively, Bristol saw early base runners, highlighted by a single and stolen base from Collin Dobson in the first and a walk by Jaxon Walker in the second, but couldn’t capitalize until later in the game.
Trouble arrived in the fourth inning, when Pulaski loaded the bases with no outs and broke the game open with a series of walks and hits. The River Turtles put up six runs in the inning, jumping to a 6-0 lead.
Bristol scratched across their first run in the bottom of the fourth as Walker advanced to third on a pair of steals and was brought home by Elijah Alexander’s RBI groundout. But Pulaski answered with another run in the fifth and added an eighth tally in the eighth inning.
Down 8-1 in the bottom of the eighth, the State Liners showed signs of life. Prince DeBoskie led off with a double, and Patrick Gillen followed with an RBI double to make it 8-2.
In the ninth, Bristol tried to rally again. Alexander singled, stole both second and third, and scored on an RBI single from Beau Revord. DeBoskie added his second double of the night to bring in another run, cutting the deficit to four. But with two outs, a fly ball to centerfield ended the comeback bid.
With the loss, Bristol falls to 5-4 on the season but still remains a top contender for the No. 1 spot in the Appalachian League West. The third and final game of the series vs. Pulaski is scheduled for 5 p.m. Sunday afternoon.
